A light-emitting diode (LED) is an electronic light source based on a semiconductor diode (p-n junction) that may be used in a variety of applications, including as replacements for traditional light source devices. An LED may include an anode and cathode disposed on a chip of semiconductor material. When a diode is forward biased, charge carriers, including electrons and holes, flow through the semiconductor between the anode and cathode. When electrons and holes recombine, they release energy in the form of a photon. The color of the light corresponds to the energy of the photon, which in turn depends on the band gap of the semiconductor.
LEDs are becoming increasingly popular as light source devices, especially as their cost continues to decrease. Typical LED applications utilize a plurality of LEDs to produce the required total light intensity. However, the process of producing light from LEDs may be inefficient, particularly at the power levels needed for practical lighting applications, with a substantial amount of the electrical energy being converted into heat energy. Therefore, the temperature of the chip rises as the LEDs produce light. Because of this temperature increase, the amount of light produced by the LEDs and the efficiency of the LEDs decrease. If the temperature continues to rise, the LED chip may eventually fail as the actual chip temperature exceeds the maximum junction temperature for the chip.
The heat generated by the LEDs and the risk of failure becomes even more significant when the LEDs are densely concentrated on the chip. Currently, manufacturers use heat sinks and increase the spacing between LEDs to reduce the temperature of the chip. These techniques, however, may cause an undesirable increase in the size and power usage of the LED device, thereby limiting their application.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need for an improved LED array that can provide effective heat dissipation while accommodating a close spacing between individual LEDs.